For many creative-types, this can be a hard pill to swallow. Your ideas are not new. Sorry, but it’s true, every idea is a combination of two or more previous ideas.

So except for the first couple ideas on the cave walls – like maybe self-preservation, shelter, fire and tools (and even those obviously came from some other event or thought), ideas are borrowed and mixed and it is only the limitless combinations and the ability of our mind to map experience and imagination together into endless mashups, that we perceive things as new or original. You may have heard this before, no artist or thinker in history has become the master before being the student and learning the ideas that existed before them.

You see, something great happens once you accept there are no new ideas – you stop thinking you’re on the quest for something completely original. And you start to understand that you are a filter. A very complex filter, wired similar to others, but consisting of a unique combination of influences, experiences and perceptions that make you different than other filters. And so, your filter will mix previous ideas in ways that other filters might not. That is your originality. Your freedom to let all other ideas effect and change your ideas for the benefit of new ideas. It’s ok. There’s no other way to go about it. You must borrow from everything that has come before you.

We often think some individuals possess more genius or original ideas, but really those are simply mashups of all the same or similar experiences, interpretations and frameworks remixed, presented and perceived anew. Take for example, the talent of a young athlete, artist or student. They will each possess some limits created by our 99% shared DNA, added to that is their own experiences, which are then multiplied by interpretation and reformulated by framework. The result is the individuality or uniqueness reappearing as part of the process of perception. Both uniquely mashed up by each individual, but also uniquely perceived by others.

So take pride in your mash-ups. They are truly your only original creations. And although they are really combinations of other ideas, the world will see them as fresh and new.

And while embracing this view is liberating, there is more to take away from this than the fact that your mashups are your most original creations. There is also the counter-point that we are, beneath the unique filtering, all the same. And so our inherent understanding of what is meaningful and what is not, are much the same. We all do basically the same things each day of our lives. We sleep, eat, work, play and procreate. After that there is a endless list of experiences that we all share. From the colors of the spectrum, to the keys of music, to the smell of bacon or the sound of a baby crying. Then we share knowledge as widely as possible so that every individual uses many or most of the same references and subject matter to organize their thoughts and thinking framework.

There is no breaking out of the box – no escape from our sameness. Which means… and I know you’ve been waiting patiently – it means our work as communicators and persuaders relies on this shared sameness. It means you will know when that which your are communicating is powerful and universally true. It doesn’t require endless testing and surveys and focused-groups. No I’m not saying don’t test your work – there is value in getting perspectives and perceptions. But if you focus on the level where our most-shared experiences matter, it will lead to the core messages that make the deepest impact. And nearly anyone can tell you whether you’ve hit that mark – not just your ideal prospect. Usually you already know.

So trust your instincts and your shared experiences to help you find the universal truths that make us all react and respond. Then let your unique mashups reflect that universal truth in ways that will be perceived as big, original and new ideas.

Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com

]]>http://brand67.com/2018/04/no-new-ideas/feed/0Positioning? Who cares… just get some results!http://brand67.com/2018/04/positioning-who-cares-just-get-some-results/
http://brand67.com/2018/04/positioning-who-cares-just-get-some-results/#respondWed, 11 Apr 2018 19:04:32 +0000http://brand67.com/?p=1515

Uh-oh, did you get to this post thinking it might help you skip the boring, worthless, pain-in-your-assumptions, process of defining and getting agreement on a “positioning statement” or “strategic positioning”? Well, very sorry to disappoint, but maybe you’ll read on long enough to understand why there is no shortcut to great branding and marketing success, and what you can do about it.

Positioning has to be the most important thing you do as a brand, product, service or business. Why? Because as humans, context is all we have to delineate ideas and understand communications. It’s the reason that every letter of any languages alphabet has a different shape, mark or symbol for each letter or idea. We know that when those shapes are very similar it is hard to delineate them. But when they can be visually differentiated and come in a certain patterns, like words, then it becomes much easier. The combinations are endless, but ultimately, each different letter has a role and when combined correctly they form larger ideas and when linked together into sentences and paragraphs they become more complex and communicate much more information than what is apparent from their more simple visual makeup.

With some similarities to these building block methods, communicating a positioning begins with creating the brand language and makeup. Defining each element along with it’s connection and meaning in relation to all the others. We like to call this the brand DNA.This process requires in-depth research and analysis of all those individual elements that make the brand unique. Obviously things like the customer benefits, product attributes, identity, location, culture, methodology, business model, mission/vision and many other factors must be considered and defined as part of the whole.

What makes a brand and a positioning unique is that its made up of a set of unique identifiers that can be easily understood and communicate a special message. And as those elements are combined they begin to represent something larger and more complex in the minds of those viewing, using, or experiencing the brand.

We know when brands get it right. We can just feel it. A sense that everything leads to the same place – a place we want to be included in – and a place where we want others to see us.

What makes a brand memorable is the same thing that makes people, places and things memorable. There is something special, that’s easy to sense, feel and understand. And when you have a good experience with that person, place or thing, you’re not likely to forget it, and you’ll want to have it again.

Certainly, it’s not rocket science, but it’s also not easy or simple to accomplish. Many executives and business owners don’t believe it’s important to officially define a comprehensive positioning for their brands. And it’s unlikely that you will find those companies and brands at the at the top of their categories, but probably somewhere closer to the middle or below. And that’s fine, there is a place for everybody and enough for everybody. Unless you believe in scarcity, which might lead you to also believe it’s better to be good than to be lucky.

It is critically important for the brand language and DNA to be defined clearly at the beginning. Because without the clear language and DNA, there is no clear brand representation that can be easily grasped and understood by the audience, while they are being bombarded with about 2000 to 5000 other messages every day.

If you haven’t got a clear, precise positioning for your brand, product or service, start now and make it happen. If you need help, check out some of our other blog posts about defining a position you can own and grow. Or get in touch for a FREE 30-Minute Brand Scrum and we’ll get you started on the right track.

Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com

Analyzing results of a marketing campaign is one thing. Strategically breaking down what is working and what is not working, and why, is another.

Analyzing results of a marketing campaign is one thing. Strategically breaking down what is working and what is not working, and why, is another. The causality and logic associated with audience behaviors and consumers emotional buying behaviors are not effected or changed by data. They are changed by communication that is creative, relevant, thought-provoking and provides an easy path to a solution that offers something different than other similar solutions.

You can pile all the data you want in front of a room full of numbers people and look at trends and patterns, anomalies and exceptions – but that will leave you knowing only what happened – not what needs to happen next. The answers you need are the ones that tell you “what do we do now?” or “what do we do next?” And those answers don’t come directly from the data. Those answers come from the interpretation of the data. Sure some will say that is analysis, and it is. But analysis alone gets you more data. Interpretation gets you the associations that cause the data and lead to directions that will cause the data to be different.

Kellogg’s is one of the best at collecting data, but also understands the importance of mining strategic insights from that data to support and improve their marketing results. From the Google Double Click article, Jim Kiszka, senior manager, digital strategy, Kellogg North America says,

“It’s not enough just to capture all that data. We also want to be able to glean insights from it. As we put all of these pieces together, we’re finding that we really can move the needle.”

When you begin to deal with the associations and emotional effects caused by the data, then it’s important to have a framework from which to measure those effects. Criteria for what emotional effects and associations will lead to the different results that you want. Only with good criteria can you truly analyze, assess and interpret data with meaningful change built into the process.

What is that criteria? Ah, the key question. The simple answer is Positioning and Strategy. If you’ve read any of my posts, you’ll likely say, “again with the positioning?” Yes, again with the positioning! And again with the well developed and focused positioning, not just the formulaic statement where you plug in some words because it will check the box and get the creative types on the clock.

“A well-positioned company will beat the competition that has a comparable offering. The company that clearly articulates what it does, why it’s relevant and how it’s different helps customers make better and faster buying decisions.” -from ChiefOutsiders.com

What you are missing is the justifiable reasoning that gives your brand an advantage. And an understanding of how that advantage relates to the needs and desires of a specific type of person for whom the advantage and reasoning are particularly well matched. A specific benefit for a specific customer. Which leads to more creative that is strategically on point. And with more creative you give yourself the opportunity to test and get better data, not just more data.

Creativity is critically important and must never be abandoned in favor of data. But you don’t need to be more “creative” or “visionary” or “out-of-the-box”. No, those things are judged after the fact. We can come up with insightful, bold, and deeply meaningful ideas. Which, if executed well and viewed widely can be described as out-of-the-box later. But at the time they emerge, they inevitably have to be inside-the-box or in-the-box – meaning they have to come directly from the brand DNA and a thoughtful and emotional positioning that can be fulfilled upon. If that is done correctly, then every idea has the potential to find it’s way out-of-the-box. Because it will come across as fresh, needed, interesting, desired and worth talking about to others. Which makes it viral, without trying to be.

Data can inform and support the creative and ultimately make it more effective. But beware of vanity metrics and unactionable data. Without solid strategy and success criteria, data alone may leave you chasing your tail, rather than leading you toward the growth and sustained success you are after.

Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com

And don’t blame me if you can’t quit.

I adopted this :15 minute-a-day productivity habit and I am addicted to it. Sit in a sunny place (cloudy is fine too), set your computer in your lap. Open your favorite writing app. Tilt your head back and write.

If your typing skills are decent, you don’t need to stare at the screen of blue light. Don’t wear sunglasses and don’t close your eyes either (more about that later).

Sometimes you’ll know what you are going to write, sometimes you won’t. Don’t look at it until you’re done. You can go back and edit later. Don’t worry about mistakes and misspellings. Just glance up once in a while to see if the words are appearing. I’ve accidentally hit the track pad and found out a few minutes later that I had been typing into the ether. Sometimes starting out is tough and nothing comes quickly. Other times it flows and you’ll have to stop or risk over-exposure.

The interesting thing about this habit is how easy it is to do. The activation energy is minimal. It is the first thing I do as part of my work day. Ok, I’ll admit I check email as I have coffee and do my morning routine. But once everyone is off to school, work, whatever, and I’m ready to be productive, this is the first thing. If you can’t do it first thing, then take an early break and go outside. It clears the way for other things to happen. And it keeps a creative flow going. Creating good content is a chore no matter who you are or who you have working for you, you’ll always need more good content.

This writing time has been incredibly valuable in many ways. You’ll find out how when you try it. Set your expectations for a reasonable outcome, and don’t be hard on yourself or judge too much. Shoot for a few short paragraphs or just a couple of thoughts. You will likely open the flood gates and find you have more to say than you may have imagined.

Start that blog, that book, that journal, that story. Or just collect thoughts about the things you’ve been contemplating. Putting it down in words and reading it back can affect powerful effects.

There are other reasons this habit can become addicting. The sun provides all the energy necessary for life. All of the energy produced in our body comes from the sun. Nothing lives without it, because without it nothing lives. At least on a cellular level. Ok, I’m not the expert on the science. Check out Dr. Jack Kruse for that. But what is undeniable is that our cells require sunlight and the effects of sunlight to function optimally. I’m not suggesting you over-expose, but just getting :15 to :20 minutes a day, while it may not sound like much, could make a difference to your productivity, your happiness and your health.

On the flip-side, we are relentlessly exposed to all the EMF’s (electro-magnetic fields) and damaging blue light from screens, transmitters and devices, which are having profound effects on our health and psychological well-being. While that discussion is best left for another time, the simple fact is that sunlight can counteract and even reverse some of the negative effects of EMF’s.

But this post is about productivity. So if you’ve been wanting to write more or create more content, give this habit a try. After you’ve done it for a month or two, step back and see what you’ve produced. You’ll be astounded, and further addicted.

Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com

]]>http://brand67.com/2018/03/warning-this-habit-can-become-addictive/feed/067 Branding Insightshttp://brand67.com/2017/06/67-branding-insights-an-on-going-article-about-branding-and-marketing/
http://brand67.com/2017/06/67-branding-insights-an-on-going-article-about-branding-and-marketing/#respondThu, 15 Jun 2017 21:12:20 +0000http://brand67.com/?p=1148Read More]]>An on-going article featuring tips and insights on branding and marketingThis article is an ongoing series of posts. Feel free to add your own insights in the comments and we may include them in the list. The list appears with most recent posts first. Find more about branding and marketing strategy at Brand67

14 – FOCUS ON STRATEGY – A great strategy feeds into (and align things to) your strengths. It’s not a new way of looking at things or some big idea that nobody else comes up with. We all have a lot of the same similar great ideas. Some shitty ideas too – but it’s your job to know and judge the difference.

Strategy simply helps build a narrative or a plot through the whole experience. If you are a writer, and you are writing a book, you do the same thing. You find the common thread of the story and build your strategy from there. Every twist and turn creates a new possibility in the plot, but it is the strategy behind the book that helps the author make good choices for the layout of the plot, the characters, the settings, the tone, the dialogue and every other aspect of a great story.

Every strategy does the same thing, it guides decisions toward a common theme that propels everything with synchronization around purpose.

Strategy makes things better by instilling more meaning in every action and reaction. Sure you can overlook strategy for good ideas, quick hits, and a lightning bolt of activity. A shot in the pan. And if gambling is your game, you’re in luck because there are a lot of companies doing that, so there are a lot of agencies providing it. If you like to hedge your bets and take more of a sure thing versus a long shot, then strategy is probably something you’ll value.

13 – DON’T FORGET THE SECRET INGREDIENT – what is the secret ingredient? That’s for you to find out, and for all your ideal prospects to know. It’s the benefit they get or feel when they join your brand. It’s the reasoning in their minds that talks them into being a part of your brand instead of others. It’s the conversation you have aided, but cannot control, that determines how you are perceived, and then how reality matches that perception (or fails to match it – or exceeds it). And in that reaction to perception is your brand’s value created for those who buy-in.

Now, being that your secret ingredient is created, and lives within the minds of your prospects, it is crucial that you understand how that secret ingredient is made. Which means you must understand how your ideal prospects view the world, and how they think and feel and act, in order to understand the recipe needed to foster the right perceptions that will aid their internal conversation and match (or exceed) the reality they experience with your brand.

The secret ingredient starts with one thing… the benefit. Not the brand mission, or vision, or product feature, or faster, better, cheaper. Those are attributes, not benefits. Benefits are emotional. That’s where the word “emote” comes from, which means to express emotion. It is the expression of emotion brought about by attributes, that must be clearly communicated. For example, “look what this does!” communicates attributes, but “wow, that’s amazing!” communicates benefits and also creates the secret ingredient. Here’s more about finding the capo d’ astro bar.

12 – SYNCHRONIZE YOUR MARKETING – one of the most popular marketing buzzwords of the last 15 years has been “integration”, as in Integrated Marketing Communications. Integration has been about taking one message and slathering it across the landscape of digital and traditional channels, hitting prospects with the same message at each touch point. The idea of one message coming from all your communications is a nice idea, but with the increasing complexity of channels, niche categories and splintered audiences, the integration of a singular message is much more difficult to apply well.

A better concept for applying a singular brand message or positioning across the marketing landscape, as well as up and down the sales funnel, is synchronization. Synchronizing your marketing means having each piece, channel, level, platform and experience working in concert. It’s more than speaking the same language and repeating the benefit mantra at every touch point. It’s knowing what attitudinal changes happen when prospects move from awareness to interest to consideration to conversion.

As a principle, one message or voice of the brand is extremely important. It is necessary to sharpen the focus of all communications with a singular point of view. But it is also dangerous to assume that a singular selling point, headline or call to action will be as impactful at every step of the customer journey and on every platform or channel in your marketing mix.

While integration is typically more of a tactical approach to aligning marketing communications, from the initial reception message to the sale confirmation email, synchronized marketing is a strategic approach to studying and applying the subtle changes in audience attitude and behavior that affect the the product/service development, packaging, distribution, sales and marketing processes. It’s understanding deeper insights that might show how a packaging change can convert online sales better, or how a sales tactic performs between warm leads and qualified leads, or how thoughtful split-testing can improve retargeting results.

Ok, yes, synchronized marketing is harder than integrated marketing communications. It takes more effort, more thought, more cross-discipline collaboration and better leadership. And I’m sorry to break the news, but it’s a dog eat dog world out there and it’s not getting any nicer

11 – EXECUTE YOUR IDEAS – Ideas are a dime a dozen. Great ideas are more valuable than gold. And truly innovative ideas can be priceless. But unless they are executed, and executed well, they are worthless.

Great brands, and the leaders of those brands, have figured out how to execute their ideas extremely well. It starts with setting the table and making a place where ideas are welcome. Strategy and objectives provide a playing field and criteria for determining which ideas have more value. You must capture ideas in a repository that can be analyzed and brainstormed to sift the best ideas to the top. Once ripe ideas are identified, tasks are assigned to move it into development and testing. And then, with measured risk, you must launch the idea into the world.

Get your ideas on paper – Whether it’s on the back of a napkin or in a mobile app, write down every single idea you get when they come.

Evaluate and expand – At some point sit down and evaluate your ideas. Sift the good ideas from the bad. At this point, “executing” your ideas takes on a different meaning – with brutal honesty as the gauge, only the best ideas should survive.

Match your idea to your business objectives – Your next step is to see which ideas mesh with what you are trying to accomplish as a company. If the idea doesn’t fit with your mission and vision…it’s dead. It is not worth your time.

Use SWOT – Next, analyze the ideas that have survived this far using the SWOT. Is it possible to convert a weakness into an opportunity? What strengths can be leveraged?

Compare the latest trends – Before development of an idea, look to see what is already in the market. Is your competitor providing a similar product? How can you differentiate?

Brainstorm with trusted people – Gather a group of strategic and creative people you trust to drum up ideas on what needs to be done, who needs to do it and when it needs to happen.

Assign tasks – Finally, hand out the assignments to getting this idea from paper into reality.

10 – FOSTER A MASH-UP CULTURE – Sure, you’ve heard it before – there are no new ideas. And it’s true, every idea is simply a combination of two previous ideas. So with the exception of that very first idea, or two, there really has been no originally new ideas, ever. No artist or thinker in history has become the master before being the student and learning the ideas that existed before them.

But something great happens once you accept this – you stop thinking you’re on the quest for something completely original. And you start to understand that we are all filters. Very complex filters, wired similar to, but different than other filters. And so, every filter or group of filters will mix previous ideas in ways that other filters might not. That is originality. And it often leads to innovation. Your freedom to let all other ideas effect and change your ideas for the benefit of new ideas. It’s ok. There’s no other way to go about it. You must borrow from everything that has come before you.

So take pride in your mash-ups. They are truly your own original creations. And although they are really combinations of other ideas, the world will see them as fresh and new.

09 – TEEMING WITH TEAMWORK – You’ll likely agree that how the world works is rapidly changing. And teamwork is taking on a new importance in how solutions are rapidly discovered and deployed. What began as faster ways to develop projects, such as agile, scrum, stand-up or lean, have led to the ways that businesses and governments will have to conduct business and deliver solutions in a highly connected, information saturated and mostly virtual work environment.

In order to keep pace and innovate, teams must utilize a teeming, or swarming approach instead of the same old formation and lock-step tactics. Take the example of an emergency room triage team that functions to quickly address and solve issues with the rapid assessment of needs, collaboration with the right specialists, action to complete the task, transfer of responsibilities, then disbanding and regrouping as necessary to address more cases.

Today’s most productive work environments will function in a similar way to bring expertise and experience together in a precise mix of talents and skills, at the precise time when the need has risen, for just as long as it takes, and with a structured leadership that can deal with the inherent challenges of short-term workforce dynamics. Those include difference of opinion, culture, processes and perspective. All are reasons that make teamwork the effective tool for finding new opportunities and innovative solutions. But balancing and resolving these dynamics effectively is critical to success.

One key aspect to building short-term trust and dependability into teams is to establish core shared goal(s). A singular purpose has been proven to improve both performance and satisfaction of work forces. It is one of the reasons that cause-related organizations have a high level of worker satisfaction, and a high level of trust in other employees – who they know are contributing in support of, and for the success of the same goals they are themselves. This alignment of goals does not have to be a humanitarian or philanthropic in nature, but should be a simple and significant goal for which everyone on the team can agree to aim.

Cross-discipline achievements and alignment will continue to be more and more important to business success. That is simply because the global marketplace will be more competitive and more complex tomorrow, than it is today.

08 – AUDIT YOUR MARKETING PLANS AND VEHICLES REGULARLY – all functioning mechanisms are prone to wear, degradation and eventual failure if they are not maintained and serviced well. And even the best and brightest minds need unbiased feedback in order to improve their performance. Good planning, strategy and tactics can go awry when they are not continually adjusted and reviewed against a constantly changing digital marketplace.

Of course that’s an expected responsibility of every account leadership team, but more times than not, they are too deep in the weeds dealing with day to day demands, and too vested in the work, to be objective. It is valuable to obtain expert, yet unbiased analysis which can bring needed balance to internal assessment processes and provide valuable corrective recommendations to keep your marketing vehicles performing their best.

07 – EMBRACE YOUR NICHE – Decide on what you do best and attract only those prospects who are an ideal match for what you provide, and repel (or at least, don’t waste money attracting) those that are not your ideal prospect.

When you have specialized knowledge and skills, it is imperative that you use that specialization to differentiate your brand from all the others that do similar (but not as specialized) services. When your ideal prospects find that you know and do exactly what they need, they will instantly know you are “right for me” and they will act. And when you get connected to that ideal prospect, your effort to close the deal will be a whole lot easier. Because you really do know their challenges, their desires and the way they want to work. You’ll deliver more focused solutions that will get them the results for which they are happy to invest. And ultimately you will be competing in a much smaller arena where you can become a leader.

06 – EMPOWER TEAMS BY ASKING “WHAT”, NOT “WHY” – At every step of the way, where data and ideas meet, there is the opportunity to see results and ask “Why” did that happen? But the better question is always “What” is happening? And “What” do we do?

When we start with “Why” we immediately create a negative perspective where the answers identify blame, fault, guilt and trappings of the past. Asking “What” questions opens the path to potential solutions and a positive and empowering dialogue about moving forward.

“What” questions can be similar to “Why” questions, but the thinking and outcomes will very different. Consider being faced with a failed task or solution, we often ask, “Why did this fail?” and “Why didn’t it work?” But the better questions are, “What went wrong” and “What can be done?”

So focus on the questions and answers that will lead you to new solutions rather than the ones that tell you how you arrived at where you are at now. So, what do you think?

05 – EXAMINE YOUR FUNNEL FOR LEAKS – in this digital marketing ecosystem where the customer journey can become a long and winding road, there are more opportunities to lose customers along the way. And as customers continue to be less and less loyal to brands, there is a real danger your marketing efforts can be hijacked by competitors with similar offerings.

My friend Bill Threlkeld, of Threlkeld Communications, makes this fine point in his recent article, “If your awareness efforts are random, scattered and disconnected, you stand the chance of building awareness for the whole category your brand fits in. And, when that happens, the brand with the strongest presence in the marketplace (whether it be through paid, owned, shared or earned media) will win.“

That is, unless you broaden your messaging footprint and test your funnel for leaks. This means reviewing and aligning messages at each stage of the customer journey, from the awareness stage, into consideration and especially evaluation, and all the way through the sales pipeline – testing each stage. An awareness campaign should not be launched without synchronizing (not integrating one message, but synchronizing the right messages) across platforms, channels and subsequent stages of the customer journey. Amazon probably leads the way on this, but who else is doing a great job? What is your experience showing you?

04 – AUDIENCE INSIGHTS – Most brand insights are usually within plain sight. But often we are looking at the wrong things. We tend to see the brands POV as more critical than the audience POV. So we are looking for insights about the brand, when true insights are about the audience, and how they think and feel about experiences that might involve our brand. Insights won’t change the product or services as much as they will change the way you relate to your audience.

It is critically important to also find the core attributes that are shared among your audience, to hone in on the most valuable attributes that are shared among you most valuable prospects. If you are trying to speak to everyone, you will be heard by no one. Are you focused on the right brand insights? Here is more about focusing your target audience.

03 – NAMING AND NAMING SYSTEMS ANALYSIS – Names, labels, nicknames, handles and acronyms surround us daily. They can be obstacles in the mind, or they can be beacons amid the din. Whether it’s sub-brands, line extensions, versions or systems, naming is a crucial (and sometimes grueling) process that most companies neglect. Usually because they believe it will cost too much to make changes. But what is it costing if a name is not remembered or is sending the wrong message? Are you periodically analyzing your names and naming systems, doing competitive research and testing alternatives?

02 – IDEATION FOR NEW PRODUCTS/SERVICES – Change is the only constant and keeping fresh ideas pumping through an organization or brand is crucial to staying competitive and gaining ground on the segment leaders. Focused ideation in an on-going setting can create new revenue streams, improve products and services incrementally and continually add value to a brand. One or two focused sessions a year can be enough to identify innovative directions.

There are lots of ways to do this. Create a brainstorming or innovation lab where interested associated gather regularly to practice the art of focused ideation. Put together an internal idea bank where ideas from any staff member can be gathered and assessed – and rewarded. Are you doing it? Who’s doing it well? Who needs help?

01 – BRAND POSITIONING – Companies cannot be everything to everyone, they must find what they stand for and own it. It must be authentic, honest and rewarding, just to gain acceptance. It must have clear benefits and awesome value. It must also have a great personality – usually requiring some charm. And it must be human. “It” is your brand. And getting a brand to be all these things is not easy. It’s not quick. And it’s not painless. But it is necessary and it should be rewarding. And it starts with the hard work of defining a position that is true to the brand, desired by the audience and unoccupied by the competition. Do you have all your stakeholders in agreement? Does everyone from the CEO to the intern know it by heart? Here’s more on positioning.

Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com

http://brand67.com/2017/06/67-branding-insights-an-on-going-article-about-branding-and-marketing/feed/06 reasons your target is too bighttp://brand67.com/2016/09/7-reasons-your-target-is-too-big/
http://brand67.com/2016/09/7-reasons-your-target-is-too-big/#respondTue, 27 Sep 2016 03:49:50 +0000http://kentland.wordpress.com/?p=304Read More]]>When defining a target audience, what makes marketers reach for the shotgun rather than the rifle? Is it the belief that throwing the widest net possible, with messages to the masses, will return the biggest results? Or is it the fear that if the target isn’t the size of a barn, they might miss their mark?

Even if your target was everyone on the planet. Unless you are Coke, I can tell you that everyone will not be your customer. So Coke, you are dismissed from this conversation. The rest of you might want to continue.

Shotgun targeting is an oxymoron. Who takes a sawed-off shotgun to target shooting contest? I’d take a rifle and preferably, a scope. Targeting, whether it’s done on shooting range or in a boardroom, involves focus. And while most marketers will deny using a shotgun approach, they quietly expand the demographic profiles, adding a few extra years to the age group and a larger range of incomes to the demographics. Even savvy marketers who know that behavior profiles are more important than demographics can make the logical mistake of merging profiles, thus widening the net to include more potential prospects.

What these good meaning actions really do is to homogenize the target, making it so big that you can’t possibly miss. This wider target may be bigger, but it has many different wants and needs which means you’ll either need a lot of different messages (can you say big $$$$?), or you’ll decide to be economical and use one generic message to speak to all those different prospects.

Either way, all you will likely achieve is a message that is less meaningful, less appropriate, less memorable, and less effective to your MOST important prospects.

2. Consuming Consumers Consume

Even in tough times, we are a society consumed with consuming. In our search for what we lack, we’ve become little information bees pollinating society with the nectar we believe is the sweetest – just look at facebook and twitter.

These days consumers do a large portion of the communications work for themselves. They are searching and surfing and reviewing and blogging and discussing, creating ripples of messaging like a drop of water spreading across a pond. This means that your message, if it’s meaningful, will be spread beyond your control. It will find the farthest reaches of the target, to the most unlikely of prospects, who you would have never dreamed of talking to directly – so don’t waste time and money trying.

Or you could pursue that generic message, riddled with bullet points and copy that speaks to everyone? Yeah, I share those on social media all the time.

3. Shared Aspirations

Everyone aspires. And everyone doesn’t aspire to just one thing. No, everyone aspires to many things. Humans are not cookie cutter consumers. We are all uniquely programmed with subtle differences in our mental processes that make us more than the sum of our demographics.

My demographics would show that I’m a middle aged (ouch!) male, a marketing communication professional making a living in Los Angeles, married with a child.

These facts would tell you little or nothing about my aspirations or the things that make me tick. And while some of those things are related to middle age (ouch!), most are not. The point is that I will pay attention to messages aimed at the 20-something, recent college grad who doesn’t have a mortgage and spends his hard earned cash to obtain the latest, hottest stuff on the market. I won’t tune out because the message sounds “younger” than me, or “hipper” than me, or “more serious” than me. I aspire to many of the same things as that target. Yet if that message were altered to be sure it spoke to 40-somethings and 50-somethings, it certainly wouldn’t sound younger and hipper.

The result of the more focused message is a bleed factor that means anyone with even a sliver of shared aspirations with the well defined target will get it. You don’t have to talk to everyone. Talk to THE target and let others connect via shared aspirations.

4. Attribute Morphing

Consumers will also morph the attributes of a product to fit their needs. I bought a Honda Element a few years ago. Honda was targeting a young, fun-loving, active lifestyle with messages that were sometimes quirky and odd – a lot like the car itself. While set to extreme outdoor activities, the attributes of the Element were dramatized with shots of the open-air design packed with everything from mountain bikes to kayaks.

I don’t mountain bike and I’ve been in a kayak once, but the attributes of space and a modular design were perfectly clear to me. And soon I had morphed those attributes into my own vision of how the Element would fit perfectly into my busy-dad, dog-chauffeuring, equipment-lugging lifestyle.

Stick with what your well-defined target wants and needs. Everyone else will see what they need.

5. Consumer Morphing

Similar to the attribute morphing, consumers can themselves morph from one behavioral aspect to another. Today I’m a green consumer looking for a car that will save the planet, tomorrow I am a cancer cure advocate looking for viable treatments for my recently diagnosed family member – and the next day I am a traveler searching for the best deal on airfares to Hawaii.

Consumers are constantly in motion. But you don’t have to try to hit a moving target. On the contrary, you aim at the right place and stay on your message, and morphing consumers will enter your line of fire.

We’ve all experienced this, like when you decide to buy a new car, and you’re considering a couple choices. Then suddenly you begin to see those cars everywhere. But there aren’t suddenly more of them than yesterday. You’re perception has changed (morphed) and you are now a specific type of car consumer. More tuned in, open to messages and on a deliberate information search to find the car that fits your self image – which is a unique mix of values and attributes that may also be shared by many others.

So how do you make a brand, product or service easy to find in the vast expanse of the marketplace?

6. Location. Location. Location. (in the mind)

The old real estate adage could be altered here to “position, position, position”. The key to a clear and focused target is a clear and focused positioning. For only when you sacrifice being everything to everyone will you find the one thing that is the most memorable and irresistible to the one person who is your best customer, and who at any given time could be anyone (but not everyone).

A positioning that clearly differentiates is like an address in google maps. The more specific it is, the more likely you are to get accurate and effective directions and the easier it will be to navigate your way to where you want to go.

So when your target can truly be anyone, then you had better be easy to recognize, easy to remember, and easy to locate in the jungle of brands and promises that fill the minds of each and every consumer.

The Takeaway

When you are defining your target audience, a more specific and focused approach will help clarify the message and the channels where that message will be most impactful. Resist the urge to increase the size of the target in an attempt to capture more leads, since in reality that costs more and delivers less qualified leads. Instead, attempt to narrow the audience until you know exactly who they are and what will engage, interest and motivate your perfect customer. And when you talk clearly to that perfect customer, everyone who cares will hear you.

Do you have other reasons or ways to refine your target audience? Let’s hear it.

]]>http://brand67.com/2016/09/7-reasons-your-target-is-too-big/feed/0Creative Trilogy – benefit, position, strategyhttp://brand67.com/2016/09/creative-trilogy/
http://brand67.com/2016/09/creative-trilogy/#respondThu, 01 Sep 2016 20:42:08 +0000http://brand67.com/?p=791Read More]]>The extraordinary marketing ideas arise when an abundance of ideas are put on the table. And there are lots of ways to get tons of ideas on the table, but since time is always a factor and you can’t always throw an army at the problem, the key lies in very focused planning – this makes the task much easier.

That focus comes with what I call, the Creative Trilogy — a singular benefit, proprietary positioning, and a simple creative strategy.

The creative strategy is the culmination of the process, and the next few posts will outline how I approach writing a creative strategy for the launch of concept development. I developed this approach out of years of creative frustration, finding that most creative directors and account managers could not whittle a project brief down to a few important words.

I would ask myself questions like, why are our ideas not as stellar as the best work in the industry? Why are our shelves not lined with the top awards? Why are we not known for our creative output?

Over the years it became apparent to me that the reason for these things is that the process we use to set up the creative/conceptual launch SUCKED. And that’s being kind.

Great ideas and big ideas come when direction is sharply focused. Without this focus, creative output meanders and flounders and eventually lands with a dull thud rather than a brilliant splash.

Jack Foster writes: “When giving a team an assignment to create, say a television commercial, I found that if I gave them complete freedom they floundered. Too much freedom is chaos. But when they were forced to work within the guidelines of the creative strategy and a budget and a 30-second length and an established theme line and of course a deadline, they always came up with solutions.”

Again, the crux of the challenge lies with these three keys: a singular benefit, a proprietary positioning, and a simple creative strategy. So in this post, let’s take a look at the first of these key issues.

A SINGULAR BENEFIT

This is the essence of every good positioning statement and every good creative strategy. What’s the big news? What’s the single most important benefit?

Notice it’s not, what are the benefits? In order to deliver a message and have it remembered, nothing beats simplicity. Nothing.

We can create communications with multiple benefits, multiple bullet points, lists of important facts – we can dump in the kitchen sink, but what’s the risk? The risk is that none of it will be remembered. And that ultimately means it was a complete waste of the client’s money.

Messages that deliver one clear idea are proven to be better remembered and recalled. From “Selling The Invisible” by Harry Beckwith, “The key to any effective presentation is having a clear point of view. If you have one you believe in, you are almost certain to be effective in presenting it.”

And from the book “Positioning” by Jack Reis and Al Trout, the most important essentials to positioning are:

1. You must position yourself in your prospect’s mind.
2. Your position should be singular: one simple message.
3. Your position must set you apart from your competitors.
4. You must sacrifice. You cannot be all things to all people; you must focus on one thing.

So, get it down to one thing – the more specific the better. Benefits like “better value”, “more efficient”, “more advanced” and “peace of mind” are forbidden! These are generic, overused and have absolutely no meaning to consumers.

Now, getting to the right benefit is crucial. It’s difficult and it’s a process that deserves a whole blog to itself, but suffice it to say that it must be a benefit that your audience desires and not a benefit that the client thinks their audience should desire.

Clients sometimes make this hard, but you must convince them to make a decision to lead with one thing and get their agreement. An important thing for the client to understand is that this does not mean that other benefits and features are left out, they just become more of the supporting story, but not the defining plot.

Most large agencies put this process in the hands of a whole team of strategic planners, because getting to the right benefit for the right target can take a lot of work, but we can learn to do it on our own, or in small teams with limited resources.

There are tools to get to the best benefit for your product/service. One of the easiest is the Positioning Strategy Selection Matrix. This matrix puts benefits/attributes against key purchase drivers. The benefits that deliver advantages to the most key purchase drivers are the key benefits to focus on, but ultimately, you have to choose one.

In following posts, I’ll discuss the other two keys to creative proclivity, development of positioning statements and creative strategies.

]]>http://brand67.com/2016/09/creative-trilogy/feed/0Take a position – and own ithttp://brand67.com/2016/08/take-a-position-and-own-it/
http://brand67.com/2016/08/take-a-position-and-own-it/#respondMon, 08 Aug 2016 17:34:30 +0000http://brand67.com/?p=802

In deciding on a position for a company, product or service – creativity plays a big role. This is where the course of a campaign, or even a brand, can change if we are bold enough to rock the boat. Unfortunately, that’s so against the grain of our natural instincts that it rarely happens.

It’s ingrained in us to conform, follow the rules and go with the flow. We are social animals that run in groups. We don’t want to be the ones placing our own head on the chopping block. The Japanese have a corporate saying: “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” But in marketing, this will get you a seat and a drink ticket at the Dreary Awards for creative lemmings. Differentiation is a requirement.

Positioning is the first place that every brand needs to be bold. You cannot be a leader by following. If you don’t start with a differentiating position, don’t expect differentiating creative. And don’t expect bold results. The magic starts with one benefit that holds a unique place in your prospects mind.

Great positioning takes what is inherently unique about the brand and connects it with an emotional center of the right audience. It maps a benefit promise that the audience sees with their own filter and inserts your product/service as the only solution.

One great example of a change in positioning that I think had a drastic change in creative direction is the “Got Milk?” campaign. Let me note that the results of this campaign are debatable. Milk consumption has been in decline since the 1980s, and the Got Milk campaign has not reversed that decline, though some might argue that they have slowed it.

Originally, the positioning centered around a health position – “milk does the body good”. And they dramatized it by using healthy looking celebrities to capture attention and give testimonial to their love of milk. Along with the milk mustache, the campaign did become popular and recognized, but did it sell a lot more milk. No it didn’t. Why? Because most people don’t drink milk for their health. Most people drink milk because it’s a comfort food and just goes well with things like cookies, brownies and cereal.

When Goodby Silverstein & Partnersgot the account, they changed the positioning of milk from a health drink to an essential comfort food. The Got Milk campaign dramatized the emotional connection of this essential comfort food in quirky vignettes, like the now legendary original spot “Aaron Burr”, and they nailed the real reason you buy milk, it’s irreplaceable. There’s just nothing else like it.

Of course, health is a bigger issue now and so the client has ended the Got Milk campaign and have gone back to more of a health position. Milk sales continue to decline because the competition for health drinks is getting out of hand and there’s a lot better choices than milk. But none of those health drinks has the emotional connection or history of milk. They own a position as one of the most essential comfort foods — that is also good for your health. You can invest a ton in media and get some short-term gain in people trying milk again, but they may not stay loyal milk drinkers if that deep emotional connection and desire is not cultivated. But I digress…

A positioning statement is a simple statement that represents how we want our prospects to think of us. A clear position that we can attempt to own in their mind. Hopefully with little or no clutter competing. Like, milk – it’s a health drink (like many others), or milk – it’s a comfort food (like nothing else). As the milk example above shows, subtly different positions will lead to radically different brand experiences.

Positioning is NOT the company mission and vision. Those are statements about how and why the company does things. They are important, but they are not the positioning. Tag lines and slogans are also NOT the positioning. They should evoke the positioning, just like a good product name should evoke the positioning.

Bad positioning and weak creative based on that positioning can be countered somewhat with lots and lots of money. Repeat a crappy tagline a million times and people will remember it — but very possibly not for the reasons you want them to remember. When a positioning is done well, it sticks with the audience almost immediately – for the right reasons – and is nearly impossible to forget.

A good positioning statement can be stated very simply: The (insert product/service) that gives/makes you (insert most important benefit). Example: The car that gives you the best driving experience. I’ll bet you can guess who that is, right?

THE ESSENCE OF A POSITIONING STATEMENT = WHAT’S THE BIG NEWS? WHAT’S THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT BENEFIT?

Again, SINGLE benefit. One. Uno. (See previous entry for more on the singular benefit.)

There are many formulas for positioning statements, but I think you can boil them all down to this: For thePRECISE TARGET, theCOMPANY/PRODUCT/SERVICEprovidesSINGULAR BENEFIT.

A longer (and more confusing) version looks like this:

1. TO: describe the precise target from the research and discovery
2. Product or Service being promotedIS THE: give as specific and brief a description as possible
3. THAT (WHICH): describe the most important single feature of product/service
4. SO THAT: describe the most important single benefit to the target

Often, in the course of determining a positioning, you’ll need to write out several of these statements and do some testing to see which is most relevant to the target audience.

Ultimately, you’ll have to choose one, get agreement in writing from the client and then move toward creative development. The beautiful thing is that once you’ve got agreement on a positioning that includes a singular benefit, writing subsequent creative strategies is much easier. I’ll talk a while about that in my next post. Cheers.

Kent Land is a marketing and communications strategist, creative director, social entrepreneur and musician who can be found at brand67.com. Read other marketing and creative articles at Brand67 or you can email kent@brand67.com

The simplest way to think of any strategy is that it is a plan of action – to achieve a goal.

No strategy exists without first having an objective or goal. We’ll assume that there’s always plenty of clear objectives to choose from and it’s usually the strategy, for achieving the objective, that needs more clarity.

These are all important plans of action, but the one we’re focused on here is the Creative Strategy. We could also call it a creative plan of action – or better yet, A PLAN FOR CREATIVE ACTION.

The subtle change in language is important. We are not making a creative plan to act upon; we are making a plan that will lead to creative action.

CREATIVE STRATEGY = A PLAN FOR CREATIVE ACTION

This plan of action relies on a great positioning statement (with a singular benefit) and a specific target. It’s written in a simple open-ended statement that sets the stage for an unlimited number of ideas.

Here’s the simple equation for a good creative strategy:
DRAMATIZE (THE SINGULAR BENEFIT) TO (THE PRECISE TARGET).

Your saying, “That’s it? That’s the big deal? It’s too elementary!”

There is more work to do, but yes, it is that simple on the ground level. If you’ve focused in on a real, relevant, hopefully unique benefit – and you’ve focused in on a specific, hopefully unique target audience, you have the makings for great creative ideas.

Jack Foster gives a definition of what an idea is in his book, How To Get Ideas. He credits the definition to James Webb Young:

“An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.”

Francis H. Cartier says,

“There is only one way in which a person acquires a new idea: by the combination or association of two or more ideas he already has into a new juxtaposition in such a manner as to discover a relationship among them of which he was not previously aware.”

So here, in your creative strategy, you only need two things to begin this process of combination and idea generation that is specific and unique – a benefit and a target.

A specific, unique benefit and a specific, unique target will make the process that much easier. You see, that specific benefit from your particular product/service will be different than anyone else’s (at least to your target). And your particular target has unique qualities because of your focus and willingness to sacrifice targeting everyone in order to talk to a select few (knowing that everyone will still get the message).

Now those two ideas (unique benefit and target) are combined in imaginative ways and the result is fresh, new ideas that are inherently tied to your brand.

To jumpstart the conceptual process from the creative strategy, it’s good to ask the questions below. These questions help our imagination go to the extremes of the benefit and visualize how it effects the target. This will generate more ideas. There are tons of questions like these that can be used to spur the creative idea generation, but this is a place to start.

Question 1: What does too much/an abundance of the benefit look/feel like?

Question 2: What does a too little/complete lack of the benefit look/feel like?

These are the two basic directions that concepts can take — what’s to gain from the product, or what’s to lose by not having the product. The latter is proven more powerful in most research.

And if you’ve done your homework, it will provide your creative team with a platform to deliver a mountain of concepts that are all on strategy.

It won’t work if you’ve plugged in a weak or a generic benefit. It also won’t work if you’ve plugged in a broad, all-encompassing target, like males 18-35. These broad benefits and target descriptions are destined for lackluster, meandering, or even worse, off-strategy ideas.

You must go through the process up front to pinpoint what you want to say and to whom. If you don’t do it in the creative brief, it is left to the creative team to determine the strategy. And they will wander between strategies until the ideas become broad generalities that contain no real impact, or, bounce from strategy to strategy, until someone notices that in one of those strategic directions, there are some good, relevant ideas, and therefore, that becomes the strategy. But think of how many more ideas could have been added if all that time hadn’t been wasted trying to hit a mystery target. It’s like shooting an arrow blindfolded and then moving the target to wherever the arrow lands. The end result may look ok, but you are no marksman.

You must always know how you are getting to the result. It can’t be a game of chance. Norm Brown is somewhat famous for saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, every road leads there.”

And Einstein taught,“The formulation of the problem is often more essential than it’s solutions.”

And here, with a creative strategy, if the problem is not formulated properly, all solutions/concepts will suffer. And like the proverbial house built on sand, it’ll be all downhill from there.

As a marketing or communications professional, whether your title is “Creative” or not, you need to be creative. And if you feel you are not creative, you can do things to become more creative. The most successful agencies and clients have creative people from top to bottom. Creative CEO’s and creative Account Executives, creative Media Buyers and creative Interns.

And usually, what makes them creative is not tangible, but happens within minds as they get curious about answering questions. Finding new answers is creative. New answers are untested and naturally fragile, easily broken and discarded. That can be a painful experience, so it takes some bravery to be creative. It takes some willingness to venture into the mind, surrender some control to go past familiar thinking, and entertain answers you rarely reach. Combining ideas that don’t make common sense. And noticing the relationships that make new ideas relevant.

If you’re not feeling creative, it may simply be because you don’t practice. Kinda like anything else at which you’d like to get better. Repetition builds skills. Some take the easy route to answers, they google it. I’ll admit I google things a lot. There is great inspiration and information out there. But there are creative questions that need your personal thinking and answers. You are a unique filter and your mind will combine things like no one else. Putting in the practice to think on creative questions will rewire your mind. The result will be more creative answers to the same old questions. Simply put, that leads to break throughs. No matter what your challenge might be at any given time.